<p class="text2">Vat Phou or Wat Phu (temple-mountain) is a ruined Khmer temple complex in southern Laos. <br /> It is located at the base of mount Phu Kao, some 6&nbsp;km from the Mekong river in Champasak province. There was a temple on the site as early as the 5th century, but the surviving structures date from the 11th to 13th centuries.</p>
<p class="text2">The temple has a unique structure, in which the elements lead to a shrine where a linga was bathed in water from a mountain spring. The site later became a centre of Theravada Buddhist worship, which it remains today.</p>
<p class="text2"><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"><br /><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://arasa-tour-laos.com/documents/WatPhou1.jpg" alt="WatPhou" width="800" height="411" /><br /><br />Reference&nbsp;:</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"> &Eacute;. Aymonier, Le Cambodge. II Les provinces siamoises, Paris 1901;</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"> E. Lunet de Lajonqui&eacute;re, Inventaire descriptif des monuments d&rsquo;Indochine. Le Cambodge, II, Paris 1907;</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"> H. Marchal, Le Temple de Vat Phou, province de Champassak, &Eacute;d. du d&eacute;partement des Cultes du Gouvernement royal du Laos</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"> H Parmentier, &laquo;Le temple de Vat Phu&raquo;, Bulletin de l&rsquo;&Eacute;cole Fran&ccedil;aise d&rsquo;Extr&ecirc;me-Orient, 14/2, 1914, p. 1-31;</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"> M. Freeman, A Guide to Khmer Temples in Thailand and Laos. Weatherhill 1996. ISBN 0-8348-0450-6.</span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size: 10px;"> M. Santoni et al., &laquo;Excavations at Champasak and Wat Phu (Southern Laos)&nbsp;&raquo;, in R. Ciarla, F. Rispoli (ed.), South-East Asian Archaeology 1992, Roma 1997, p. 233-63;</span></em></p>
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